Disney’s latest family musical, Frozen, is in theaters now and quickly gaining a sterling reputation. Some are comparing it to the classic musicals of the 1990s such as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King. Others say it’s better than any film Pixar has released in years. I say it’s probably somewhere in the middle, a delightful Disney animated film that has plenty to remember, but isn’t without an issue or two. [You can watch what is arguably the film’s best moment here.]

As is the case with most Disney movies, which take so long to make, animators love to populate some of the busier frames with Easter Eggs. In Frozen, there are at least three biggies. We’ve seen one that relates back to Tangled, butWreck-It Ralph, and even an appearance of Mickey Mouse himself are in there, too. Check them out below. Read More »

Disney has a long history of slipping little Easter eggs into its animated films, but some are more hidden than others. Pretty much everyone has heard the urban legend about the word “SFX” (or “SEX” for the more gutter-minded) being hidden in the sky in The Lion King, for example.

Then, on the other hand, you have cameos like Rapunzel’s in Frozen, which was so subtle that even Tangled co-director Nathan Greno failed to pick it up. Hit the jump to see Rapunzel and Flynn in their blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance.

Even casual Disney fans have likely noticed that the studio’s various animated features often contain subtle nods at each other. Rapunzel from Tangled has Disney fairy tale books in her collection, Nani from Lilo & Stitch has a Mulan poster, et cetera. But what if these aren’t mere sight gags from playful animators. What if, instead, they’re hard evidence that all of these movies take place in the same universe?

In an homage of sorts to Jon Negroni’s The Pixar Theory, Josh Butler posits that 30 of Disney’s animated features share a world. His thesis requires some suspension of disbelief — for one thing, it involves a lot of magic and time travel — but it’s fun to think about nonetheless. Hit the jump to see how Butler’s theory shakes out.

Don’t worry, Disney isn’t developing a live-action adaptation of Tangled, or at least not yet. This is just the latest photo in Disney’s Disney Dreams portrait series featuring live-action reenactments of classic Walt Disney Animated classics using some of Hollywood’s biggest stars.

The first batch included Rachel Weisz as Snow White, Scarlett Johansson as Cinderella, Beyonce as Alice in Wonderland.

The second batch included Jessica Biel as Pocahontas, Whoopi Goldberg as the Genie, Jennifer Lopez as Princess Jasmine and Marc Anthony as Aladdin, Tina Fey as Tinker Bell, Gisele Bundchen as Wendy Darling and Mikhail Baryshnikov as Peter Pan.

The third batch included Olivia Wilde as the Evil Queen and Alec Baldwin as the spirit of the magic mirror from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Penelope Cruz and Jeff Bridges appear as Belle and the transformed prince recalling the final scene from Beauty and the Beast, and Queen Latifah as Ursula from The Little Mermaid.

The fourth batch included Russell Brand as Captain Hook from Peter Pan, and Jack Black, Will Ferrell and Jason Segel as Phineas, Ezra and Gus, the Hitchhiking Ghosts from The Haunted Mansion.

Disney has decided to create another series of these Dream Portrait Series Ads by photographer Annie Leibovitz. The first image features Taylor Swift as Rapunzel from the animated hit Tangled. Check the photo out after the jump.

Hot off the first look at the next Toy Story short film, Small Fry, Disney announced the directors of Tangled will bring back those characters in short form at the beginning of the new year. A short sequel called Tangled Ever After will play with Beauty and the Beast 3D when it’s released January 13, 2012. Once again directed by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard, the short will take place at Rapunzel and Flynn’s wedding where Pascal the chameleon and Maximus the horse lose the rings. Read more about the film and check out the full poster after the break. Read More »

This Week in DVD & Blu-ray is a column that compiles all the latest info regarding new DVD and Blu-ray releases, sales, and exclusive deals from stores including Target, Best Buy and Fry’s.

BLACK SWAN Darren Aronofsky doesn’t want you to experience joy or happiness. He wants to devastate you. He wants to punish you as he does his characters, fully immersing you in every dreary facet of their world as it collapses around them. And he is really, really good at it. Aronofsky has always shown a fascination with the degeneration of the body and mind, finding its limits when tested against paranoia, addiction, disease and giant planks of wood covered in nails and barbed wire. It’s amusing then, that his most horrifying exercise in body horror would be a wildly operatic melodrama about ballet. In Black Swan, you are not treated as an observer to Natalie Portman’s physical and psychological torment; you are made to experience it through her. There is never a moment of rest. The more Portman strives for perfection, the more she feels as though she could break at any moment — and Aronofsky makes damn sure you feel it too. His goal, I can only imagine, was to force the audience into a perpetual state of exhaustive madness. Well, mission accomplished.Available on Blu-ray? Yes.Notable Extras: DVD – A “Metamorphosis: A Three-Part Series” feature. Blu-ray – Includes everything on the DVD, as well as 3 additional features (“Behind the Curtain”, “Ten Years in the Making”, “Cast Profiles – Roles of a Lifetime”).

Mini-LOL: Is Disney trying to sell their latest animated film Tangled with subliminal sex messages? [brew]

What is Page 2? Page 2 is a compilation of stories and news tidbits, which for whatever reason, didn’t make the front page of /Film. After the jump we’ve included 40 different items, fun images, videos, casting tidbits, articles of interest and more. It’s like a mystery grab bag of movie web related goodness. If you have any interesting items that we might’ve missed that you think should go in /Film’s Page 2 – email us!

The Disney Princess Tumblr has put together a collection of photos comparing the famous animated Disney princesses compared next to the actresses who provided their voices. Hit the jump to see the whole graphic.Read More »